Closeness
by Serena Thorn
Summary: [PRDT] Each of the Reefside High students felt closer to one teacher than the other. Six months after graduation, one still does. [ONESHOT]


Disclaimer: I only own the concept. The rest belongs to Disney.

_A/N: Six months post-DT. More revelations, more confessions. Another oneshot. Hope you enjoy._

"Anton?" Elsa asked as she felt her partner nearly bolt upright in their bed late that Friday night.

"I'm fine," he lied as he raked a strong hand through his blonde hair, his breathing still erratic from the dream that had caused him to wake with a start.

"What's wrong? Another nightmare?" It seemed he had been having several since Mesogog had been destroyed months before.

"I'm fine," he insisted again as he was now sitting up and moving his legs off the side of the bed. He brought his hands down his face, trying to wipe away the cold sweat. He couldn't believe it, it had been months and yet the images wouldn't leave. Only they weren't of Mesogog or his destruction. Instead they had been of her again.

The Reefside High class of 2004 had graduated nearly six months ago, but a number of the best-known students had remained close to Reefside. Ethan had gone on to Reefside Tech and Cassidy, Conner and Devin had gone on to Reefside University while Kira and Trent were at NYU.

But though the students had parted ways slightly, they had each made their promises to not only stay in touch but to be there for one another should they need them for anything.

So far they weren't the only ones to keep their promises. Both of their more involved teachers had as well.

The former Rangers may not have been Rangers anymore, but still Dr. Oliver knew there were times they would want or need to talk to an adult and not feel they could go to anyone else.

Whether to atone for what he had done in the past or because he genuinely cared for his son's friends, Dr. Mercer had also kept his word.

"I should get some work done. Go back to sleep, Elsa," the tall, lean man stated as he stood and pulled his robe on before heading down the long hall to his home office.

_Almost like clockwork,_ he thought to himself as he heard his phone ringing just a matter of minutes later. It was becoming a nightly routine for him, though he couldn't completely claim that he minded. "Hello?"

"Dr. Mercer?" the familiar feminine voice asked him. That was all he needed to hear for him to not only know who it was, but that she was crying.

"What's wrong, Cassidy?" Why couldn't he fight what he felt for her? It was all he could wonder as they spoke, but still he couldn't ignore her need for him. Or his for her.

"I'm not calling you too late, am I?"

"Don't worry about that. Tell me, what's wrong?"

Each of the students had felt closer to one of the teachers than the other. Tommy may have been the overall student favorite, but Cassidy and Devin both knew he had been closer to the former Rangers. For a reason she couldn't yet name, Cassidy had gone to Anton when she needed someone else to talk to.

It didn't help that lately she and Devin had been spending more and more time apart. Between school, work and their new friends they just didn't seem to have any time left to spend with one another. But what surprised her was that she didn't often miss him when he was away from her anymore.

"I don't know," she admitted sadly. "It's just that so much has gone on lately and I don't feel like I can keep up much longer."

"Are you talking about you schoolwork or something else?" he asked just above a whisper. This wasn't the first time she had come to him like this, though he was still far from used to it. He had never considered himself to be the greatest at consoling anyone, but somehow he managed with her.

"All of it. Again," Cassidy answered as she harshly wiped a fallen tear from her left cheek. She couldn't believe that this had been going on for at least a month. He almost always had to whisper when he talked to her and she knew why. Why she couldn't let Elsa and he be she couldn't know.

"It's alright, you can tell me," he carefully urged. He didn't want to push her, but he knew she wouldn't have called if she didn't need to talk.

She decided then was as good of a time as any. She was too upset to keep the words in, "There's someone I really miss. Someone I haven't gotten to see of a while. But I know I'm not the one he wants, I just don't know what else to do -"

"Did Devin say something to you?" Anton couldn't believe what he was hearing and was hardly able to hide it. Though he knew it was wrong given that they were both involved with other people, he couldn't help but wonder how a man couldn't want to be with her.

"He doesn't have to. If he really wanted to spend time with me he'd find a way. Lately he just hasn't. But what I don't understand is why I don't care. I mean, a year ago we were Cassidy and Devin and did everything together. Now we're lucky if we pass each other in the halls and yet I don't care."

"But you said something else was going on," he reminded her. "Something else with Devin?"

"No. It's something else, Dr. Mercer. I just don't know how to say it."

"You're not in my class anymore, Cassidy. You can call me Anton." How many times he had told her that he had lost count. But still she kept it formal on these nights. He wanted to think he knew why, but he didn't want to assume.

She smiled inwards slightly as she always did when he told her that. She enjoyed the feeling that he didn't still see her as his student. That now he viewed her as a friend. Though she couldn't deny that she hoped he saw her as more than a friend. "I know."

"So, tell me, what is it that has you so upset."

"Devin's not the one I was talking about missing. I really care about you and I know you're with Elsa and I know you're gonna say that I'm too young for you or that I don't know what I'm saying, but it's true. I wish I was the one with you instead of her." She hadn't even taken a breath though her statements, each coming out in a rush. She just couldn't keep them in any longer.

He sighed, but slightly in relief. It was something he had suspected for a while and it felt good to have confirmation. But at the same time, as he had lately found himself wishing he were with her instead of Elsa in return, he knew this was risky territory.

His reputation could be in serious jeopardy if he admitted he felt the same. But at least he would still have her, he felt. His other option, he knew, was to continue to deny his feelings for her and forever lose the young woman he was beginning to realize he had true feelings for.

"I feel the same way, Cassidy," he said finally.

"What?" She couldn't have heard right. Could she. She had heard what she had wanted to hear, right?

"I care for you and I can't deny it any longer." His reputation be damned, she had been honest with him. He owed it to her now to tell her the truth.

"What about Elsa?"

"She doesn't know. When you call, she never knows it's you I leave the room to talk to."

"I guess we have something else in common then. Devin never knew I was talking to you either," she confessed. "I always told him you were Kira when he was around to ask me."

They both laughed at that. The irony, the slight embarrassment, the relief. It was all still being processed in their minds, slowly sinking in.

"I'm really sorry I keep coming to you like this. I just -"

"I'm glad you do," he interrupted. "Not that I enjoy hearing you upset, of course. I'm just thankful you know you can come to me any time you need or want to."

"You're the only one I feel I can really go to. I trust you." She paused, hearing again in her mind that sounded and nearly winced. He wasn't her last resort as she had made him sound, he was just the one she preferred above all others.

"I'll be here for as long as you need me," he heard himself tell her. He knew some would say it was a mistake for him to tell her such a thing but he also knew he meant it.

Both knew it would only be a matter of time before they would truly be with the other and while they both hated the idea of having to wait even another hour for it they knew it couldn't happen tonight.

"I don't know how this happened," she told him, having to fight back her tears once more.

"I'm not sure how matters anymore. Instead I think we should discuss what to do now. Where to go from here."

"Well I know one thing I want. Or don't want, I should say," she told him softly.

"Alright," he nodded.

"I don't want you to leave Elsa for me. But I can't be the other girl, woman, whatever either. I do want to be with you, but not like that."

"Cassidy, Elsa deserves to know the truth. The truth being that for years I did care for her, but I think she knows as well as I do that we're not the people we were all those years ago."

"Yet she's the one you sleep with every night," she stated as she blinked back her welling tears.

"I share my bed with her, currently, yes." Not something he enjoyed admitting to her, but still he continued, "But recently that's as far as it's gone."

The petite blonde couldn't believe what she was hearing, knowing she then had to ask, "How recently?"

He had come this far, he knew he couldn't stop now. "Since you first started calling me. All I could hear was your voice in my mind and from there I began wishing she were you. I know that's a horrible thing to say, but it's true."

"So, then why are you still with her?"

"We're only together now because it seemed we should be since having known each other for so long. I'm not in love with her, I'm not even sure now if I ever truly was." He paused, now realizing Elsa wasn't the only woman he needed to know the truth he had fought so long to hide. "I'm in love with you."

Cassidy was stunned. She knew he cared about her and had an idea that he liked her. But to be in love with her? Even in that moment she felt it was too much to hope for. "You're what?"

Shifting a little uncomfortably in his black leather office chair after his confession, Anton repeated it. Realizing how surprised she still seemed to be, he continued, "Part of me has known for a while, I suppose. I just couldn't bring myself to tell you. You were my student and Trent's classmate -"

"But now I'm not."

"Which is why I'm finally telling you. Though admittedly I should have told you months ago."

She couldn't stop herself. He had been honest with her and now it was her turn to be honest with him. "I love you, too." Though her expression quickly turned solemn as she added, "Not that it really matters now though."

"How can you say it doesn't matter?" He was just short of shocked she could say that. They both knew now that their feelings for one another were mutual, how could that not matter?

"Because when you hang up tonight you'll still be going back to her."

"I don't think you know how difficult it is for me to say goodbye to you, to have to hang up the phone after talking to you."

He was right, she didn't know. But then he didn't know how much she hated to have him hang up, knowing she would have to be physically without him for yet another night.

"You were talking to her again, weren't you?" Elsa asked, quickly but sternly as Anton returned to his bedroom several minutes later.

"What do you mean?" How could she know? He and Cassidy had been so careful. Hadn't they been?

"I heard a woman's voice when you answered your phone last night and then when you said you weren't sure you wanted a break from those late night phone calls I got the hint. I don't know who she is, I don't want to know who she is. All I need to know is do you love her?"

Anton sighed and closed his eyes as he took a seat on his side of the bed. He couldn't believe the time for this had come at nearly two in the morning, but he knew he couldn't deny it anymore. "I do."

"So where does that leave us?" the athletic brunette asked, more pained by this than she felt she should have been.

"I don't know. I never meant for this, not for any of this -"

"Just like you didn't mean to turn yourself into a monster bent on wold domination?" she interrupted. "Does she know about that? Is she sure she can really trust you?"

"She doesn't know," he sighed again. "Or if she does she hasn't said so."

"What would you do if you were in my place?" Elsa demanded.

"I only want you to be happy, Elsa. I don't blame you for being angry with me, I know I deserve it."

"You expect me to go that easy on you? To just say, 'oh well, it didn't work out, I'll just go?' You don't know much this hurts. I trusted you, I stood by you through everything! And now you're just passing me over for someone I can only assume you met in this last year? Someone you haven't even been able to tell me about?"

"I'm not passing you over. I just -"

"You said you loved me. Another lie?"

"I do love you, Elsa. But -"

"You aren't in love with me? You love her more? What?!"

"Yes. I don't want to fight, but I can't lie to you either."

Elsa only nodded silently before moving towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Anton called to her.

"I'm sleeping in one of the guest rooms tonight. But don't worry, I'll have my things out of here by tomorrow afternoon," she replied without even turning to look at him.

He didn't try to stop her the next day as she packed. He knew he couldn't even if he wanted to. He was in love with Cassidy and staying with Elsa wouldn't have done any good for any of them. Especially not when he knew he had hurt Elsa so badly. He hated himself for that, but knew the alternative would have been worse. His former lover deserved to be with someone who actually did love her, completely, and he truly wished that for her.

As for Cassidy, while she hadn't wanted his relationship with Elsa to end because of her she was thankful that they didn't have to lie anymore. They were free to be together now and together from then on, they were.

The End


End file.
